T.S. Eliot once referred to April as the ‘cruelest month’, but for many MBA applicants, that month is February. February, that blessed/accursed time of year when some applicants are celebrating their Round 2 admits, and others are curling up in little balls, wondering how things went so horribly wrong.

Obviously, the happy ones don’t need to read this blog, because they already know exactly where they’re going and what they’re going to be doing next year. But if you’re in that other camp – then this one is most definitely for you.

Ok, now that you’re a little calmer, and ready to take on this process in a powerful, professional way –

Take stock.What are your options?Do you have interviews still pending?Are you waiting on some decisions to come down?Have you been waitlisted at some of your target schools?List every result of your application other than a ding on a nice clean sheet of paper (if you’re into the whole ‘pen’ thing).

Adding to the list.In addition to all of your pending opportunities, you have a few more options; round 3, rolling and European late rounds (which for simplicity’s sake I’m treating as a single entity, even though that encompasses a whole range of possibilities), and strengthening your application and re-applying next year.Of course, you also have the option of doing specialty programs such as MM and MFin, but that’s a whole other ball of wax, and beyond the scope of this humble blog.

So what are the pros and cons of your various options?

Waitlist.The waitlist is your bird in the hand – your last, best chance of getting into a target school this year.Assuming you have already maximized your odds, there’s nothing more you can do except, well, wait.The pros are obvious – if you get in, your troubles are over.The con is that a waitlist can breed complacency.You can’t afford to just sit back and hope things work out – you have to be proactive!So waitlists are great, as far as they go, but don’t get hung up on them.

Admits from safety programs. Congratulations, your safety net paid off, and you have been accepted by one of the schools you applied to.Should you attend?If you did this process the right way, you only applied to schools you had a very good feeling about, so I’m going to assume that you like the program in question.So the choice ultimately comes down to cost/benefit.How expensive is the program?What are students doing after graduating – are they entering the fields and careers that interest you?Are you communicating with alums and current students?Do they seem friendly and eager to help you out?How big is your appetite for risk, and how well do you like your current job?These are some of the questions you’re going to need to answer before you can decide how to respond.

Round 3/European/Rolling.Even in February, there are a range of schools you can apply to, including schools with late round 3 deadlines, European schools with year-round deadlines, and schools with rolling admissions.This can be a good option if your safeties didn’t come through, or if you feel better about some of these schools than your safety school.But it is expensive and time-consuming to apply, and at such a late date, all of these applications are going to be long-shots, even for schools you’re a pretty good match for otherwise – their classes are going to be mostly full by now.

Waiting a year.If you’re on the young end (23-26) of MBA admissions, if you’ve recently been promoted or are expecting a promotion, if you like your current job, or if your appetite for risk/reward is high, then waiting may be your most appealing option.MBA programs look favorably on reapplicants – IF they have taken concrete steps to strengthen their candidacies in the intervening year(s).Promotions, increased responsibility at work, taking on more and better extracurriculars, retaking the GMAT or GRE, and taking satellite/extension courses on key mathematical and financial topics can all make you a more appealing applicant the second time around, as can networking and getting to know more people at your target schools.This is the high-achiever, high-effort option, but hey, if you want to go for the gold, this is how it happens.

***

So there you are – no matter what results you’re looking at right now, you have a wide array of options remaining for you.So don’t get downhearted – get motivated.Nodoby said this was gonna be easy.And if you want more personalized feedback on why you were dinged or how you can improve your candidacy, contact us!

Expertise in systems development in health care delivery and in medical education, with a focus on holistic evaluation of candidates for medical school. Published author in the field of holistic review of medical school applicants.

Core Mission:

Our core mission is training the next generation of physicians, dentists, and scientists. Health sciences education has changed substantially. Although computerization facilitates learning, more information exists to be mastered. Boston University provides today’s health sciences students with distinguished and committed faculty, thoughtful and humanistic mentoring, state-of-the-art learning facilities, and clinical experiences in one of New England’s most respected teaching hospitals, as well as in other locations in the Boston area and internationally. We remain committed to providing future doctors, dentists, scientists, and public health professionals with an outstanding education in both science and humanism.

Two-stage. First stage MUST be done through AMCAS, with a deadline of October 15th. There is then a secondary application for P&S with a deadline of November 15th.

BUSM does not pre-screen information from AMCAS. All applicants indicating interest in BUSM on their initial AMCAS application will receive a secondary application from us in due time. All applications are completed electronically. Due to the retention of the current student body, Boston University School of Medicine does not have any slots available for advanced standing in the second or third classes.

Applicants who have not graduated from an accredited U.S. or Canadian institution, but who completed a minimum of two (2) years in such an institution, including all of the prerequisites, may be considered to be eligible and should bring the details of their record to the attention of the Committee on Admissions. Occasionally a candidate of unusual ability is accepted after attendance for three academic years in an undergraduate school if he or she has satisfactorily completed all of the prerequisites and the minimum entrance requirements of 90 semester hours.

Required Courses --

One year of English

One year of Biology with labs

One year of Physics

One year of Humanities

Two years of Chemistry, one of which must be Organic Chemistry, one of which must be biochemistry

All prerequisites must be completed before a student can matriculate at BUSM. We generally prefer that applicants take these courses at 4-year undergraduate institution rather than utilize advanced placement credits. If an applicant chooses to use advanced placement credits, rather than taking a course at a 4 year accredited college, he/she will be asked to explain the circumstances as a part of their BUSM secondary application. The Committee on Admissions will then consider the matter as a part of its comprehensive review of the application. This applies also to CLEP, community college, and junior college courses as well.

Current Year Questions:

Secondary Application Essays:

1. Did you go on to college directly after high school? (1400 character limit, approximately 280 words)

This may seem like a trap, but this essay actually has the potential to help you greatly – medical schools strongly prefer applicants with diverse life experiences. Use this prompt to tell them a story, assuming you have one, about the time you spent between high school and college and how it helped you mature or change.

2. Are you expecting to go on to medical school directly after completing your undergraduate degree? If no, explain. (1400 character limit, approximately 280 words)

Be honest and specific.

3. If you have spent more than 4 years as an undergraduate, please explain below (You may skip this question if you have graduated within 4 years.). (1400 character limit, approximately 280 words)

4. Please provide a narrative or timeline to describe any features of your educational history that you think may be of particular interest to us. For example, have you lived in another country or experienced a culture unlike your own, or worked in a field that contributed to your understanding of people unlike yourself? Or, have you experienced advanced training in any area, including the fields of art, music, or sports? This is an opportunity to describe learning experiences that may not be covered in other areas of this application or your AMCAS application. It is not necessary to write anything in this section. (2000 character limit, approximately 400 words)

Don’t try to be comprehensive here – pick a couple things that you consider particularly distinctive or memorable. Use them to shape a story about who you are as a candidate, what you believe in and what life has taught you.

5.(Optional) Use the space below to provide additional information you feel will provide us with a comprehensive understanding of your strengths as a candidate for a career in medicine.This should include only information NOT already included in your AMCAS or other sections of the BUSM Supplemental Application. Most applicants leave this blank. (3000 characters)

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Got questions about your application? Schedule a consultation to get some answers.

One of the
hottest (and for many, one of the most terrifying) trends in college
and graduate admissions is the sudden popularity of the diversity
statement. Once it was a mere afterthought, of interest primarily to
crunchy Berkeleyites and hippie whitebeards eager to preach what,
back when they were applying, no one dreamed of practicing. Today,
what could be more 2016, more solidly on trend and on fleek, than to
flaunt the unique perspective of a Pacific Islander raised in a
commune, or to recount the war stories of your first generation
Laotian refugee parents?

Certainly,
that’s how your friendly neighborhood elite university feels. Which
is why you’re seeing more and more essay prompts like these –

Tell us about
a time within the last two years when your background or perspective
influenced your participation at work or school.

Short and to the
point. Or how about this self-congratulatory tongue-twister of a
prompt?

Fancypants
University’s admission process is guided by the view that a student
body that reflects the broad diversity of society contributes to the
implementation of Fancypants’ mission, improves the learning
process, and enriches the educational experience for all students. In
reviewing applications, Fancypants considers, as one factor among
many, how an applicant may contribute to the diversity of Fancypants
based on the candidate’s experiences, achievements, background, and
perspectives. This approach ensures the best and most relevant
possible training and serves the profession by training to
effectively serve an increasingly diverse society. You are invited to
submit an essay that describes your particular life experiences with
an emphasis on how the perspectives that you have acquired would
contribute to the Fancypants intellectual community and enhance the
diversity of the student body. Examples of topics include (but are
not limited to): an experience of prejudice, bias, economic
disadvantage, personal adversity, or other social hardship (perhaps
stemming from one’s religious affiliation, disability, race,
ethnicity, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, or
gender identity); experience as a first-generation college student;
significant employment history (such as in business, military or law
enforcement, or public service); experience as an immigrant or
refugee; graduate study; or impressive leadership achievement
(including college or community service).

So if you're that Laotian refugee, answering this prompt seems simple enough (although it isn't). But suppose you grew up white, straight and
well-off in a middle-class suburb, where nothing of any particular
consequence happened to you? You still have to write the essay.
Clearly, this is a situation that calls for some high-level mental
jujitsu.

Here’s the
skinny. Instead of fixating on that terrifying word diversity,
instead turn your head to take in its underappreciated companion,
‘perspective’. Actually, if you dig into that War and Peace of a
prompt above, you’ll see that the school hands you some clues of
possible topics, including military/employment history, disability or
disease, and even impressive leadership achievement, although be
hella careful with that last one.

Ultimately, a
great diversity essay isn’t driven by some accident of birth. Don’t
believe us? Try writing “Hey, I’m black” as your entire
response and see how that goes for you. It’s driven by your
response to the formative experiences that shaped you.

What was hard
for you growing up? What took some adjustment to learn to live with?
For one guy we worked with, it was being a rural kid in a big city
school. For another girl, it was being an army brat, shuttling from
base to base. For yet another, it was being way, way too into
cooking.

Whatever the
challenge was, first take some time to explore why and how it was
hard. Paint a vivid verbal picture of what it was like the first time
that mean old uncle of yours said ‘little boys don’t make
souffles’. Show yourself struggling, being wrong, doing wrong, if
that was how it went down. Adjustments take time, and they often
don’t stick right away. And when (and if) you do talk about how
you saved the day and fixed everything, please try to address what’s
universal about your struggle. Try to relate your experience to that
of others, and show the adcom how you’re prepared to use your
experiences to contribute on campus, rather than siloing.

So you want to travel abroad in order to attend a top American or European business school? Good for you. There's just one little problem -- hundreds (or thousands, depending on your country of residence ... I'm looking at you, India!) of other people just as qualified as you are targeting those same exact seats. Fortunately, you have us on your side! Check out this free three-step primer on how to prepare for your overseas MBA application.

1. Get clear on your goals and why you need a foreign MBA to pursue them.Let's be honest -- although there are applicants who genuinely need the education a top school like HBS or Wharton can offer, there's also a lot of people who are just looking for prestige, a bigger network or a quick fix for a stalled career. If you fall into one of these latter categories, you have a problem, because no one in admissions wants to hear you whine about getting passed over for a promotion yet again. Fortunately, the trouble is mostly between your ears, and therefore, it's a relatively straightforward fix. Paying attention? Good.

Past is prologue.

Got that? You are not defined by the four or five things that are currently frustrating you. You are the sum of the experiences, challenges and desires that have brought you to this point. Take a step back and look at your career from a higher vantage point. Where are you headed? Is it somewhere exciting, inspirational? Who are you bringing along for the ride -- what troubled group out there are you preparing to serve? It doesn't matter if you're a Private Equity quant jock or a burned-out prince of the non-profits in DC, the question is the same. What's next, and just how amazing is it going to be once it comes?

2. Know your role ... and your history. A good application to business school is an exercise in empathy -- you must put yourself in the admissions officer's shoes. She is trying to build a cohesive class. Where do you fit in? Look at your target schools. How many people like you did Stanford admit last year? What were they up to before arriving on campus?

Review your own work and travel history, both to figure out where you're the best fit, and what you have done that a top foreign school might find attractive. Have you been the big fish in the small pond, changemaking like a boss? Have you explored cultures and perspectives a top US or Euro MBA program might find intriguing? What, and who, do you know that can help you to stand out?

3. Shore up your fundamentals. Depending on exactly which country you are applying from, you may have an exceptionally competitive regional 'bucket' -- people from your area may only be able to claim seats when their fundamentals exceed even the usual lofty bar set by Booth, Kellogg and other top MBA programs. So make sure not to give them any reason to ding you on this account. Your GMAT, GRE, and transcripts should be as strong as you can possibly make them. If your percentiles are lacking, study and retake. If you can't conquer one test, try the other. If you need more time and you're under 25, take a year to prepare. If your transcript and resume are thin on quantitative rigor, consider a one-year masters program.

So once you've done all that, what next? Then, my friend, you are ready to take the plunge and begin planning your actual applications. And that's when you should probably call us.

So
you want to go to Columbia? You and everybody else. There are a ton
of things you need to do amazingly well to have a shot. This is about
perhaps the most important one – your essays. Don’t
overcomplicate this advice, but don’t dismiss it either, after
twenty-five years of a near-perfect success rate, believe me, I know
of what I speak.

Essay
#1:Through
your resume and recommendations, we have a clear sense of your
professional path to date. What are your career goals going forward,
and how will the Columbia GSB MBA help you achieve them?
(100-750
words)

College
is for finding yourself. Grad school is for people who know what they
want. So don’t tell me you’re “not sure yet,” “thinking
about it,” or “going to figure it out while I am there.” That
means pretty much game over at a place like Columbia Business School,
or any b-school for that matter. Think about it. All things being
equal—your grades, scores and experience—the only aspect of your
candidacy that says “I have a vision that you and your community
want to be a part of” is that specific long term goal, something
bigger, better and bolder.

So
when Steve began to see b-school as more than a mere opportunity to
gain some skillz, a resume bump and a better
job, he drew that much closer to the gates. Steve, who was in a large
real estate management and investment firm, realized that after three
years of seeing possible development deals in Detroit glossed over in
favor of a quick transactions, he wanted to help transform
communities in his backyard through real estate.(Note the
little bit of background about himself.) Basically, he saw the
possibility of Brooklyn and London’s East End everywhere. And
that’s what he wrote about—how CBS would take him from one small
rehabbed building to Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill or Hong Kong’s Sheung
Wan neighborhood springing up in 8 Mile. I’m not saying you have to
create a tectonic plate shift on the planet, but you do have to at
least be up something greater than yourself if you’re going to
stand out.

So
sit down and figure out what you want to do long term, and make sure
it’s not just working at a hedge fund. (Sigh) Look into your
life and see what’s missing –at work or at play—and consider
what you could do to fix it. Give us the context of why you want to
be a part of this change and how it relates to what you’ve done in
the past. It can’t come out of nowhere. It has to make sense.

Then,
figure out the short term stepping stone you need in order to walk
across the river without falling in. In other words, you can’t just
go from CBS to world domination. There’s a middle ground. In
Steven’s case, it was a year long internship with an NYC real
estate development corporation at the Hudson Yards project to hone
his skills.

After
that, you’ll need larger representation of how CBS is going to help
you gain the skills and the community you need to get to where you
want to go. I am talking big picture, with an academic focus such as
Real Estate, Health Care or management. Maybe mention Columbia’s
various institutes, like the Lange Center for Entrepreneurship, that
will be of help to you. Then get specific about the skills you need
in order to reach your short and long term goals. Some soft skills
like decision-making, negotiation, assessment and/or team-based
problem solving. Some hard skills like you’ve been in Marketing and
PR now you need to understand DCF or discounted cash flow. Mention
the type of classes—two or three that CBS has to offer and, and, of
course, who do you want to study under? Don’t just drop names. Get
specific about who you’re excited to meet—all in to order reach
your goals.

Essay
#2: Columbia
Business School’s students participate in industry focused New York
immersion seminars; in project based Master Classes; and in school
year internships. Most importantly, they
complete
a questionnaire
taught by a combination of distinguished research faculty and
accomplished practitioners. How will you take advantage of being “at
the very center of business”?
(100-500
Words)

Yup,
Columbia has changed this second question up again. This year its
simple -- how is Columbia’s NYC location going to help you reach
your long and short term goals? This time we are talking VERY
SPECIFICALLY about courses, professors, speakers, externships, etc.
that are at your fingertips because you’re in the hood. What
resources does Columbia have, thanks to its NYC location that you
need to achieve your goals, as stated in essay 1?

Remember,
if they think you’re running the old “hallowed halls of academia
game, then two things are possible in the minds of admissions
officers: 1. You’re BSing and didn’t do your homework or 2. If
you’ve got really great stats, story and experience, you might not
show up. In other words, if you’ve got that 740 GMAT, killer
resume, and a 4.0, you really need to SHOW Columbia that you know how
its program is going to help you get to where you’re going.

Figure
out exactly what you’re going to take and who you’re going
to study with each semester. Envision your time there and then break
it down for them—courses, professors, and internships. Who will you
meet—from fashion to finance, real estate to the art? How will
Master Classes Executives in Residence help you and why? Use this
essay to drill down even more deeply into the curriculum. Explain
how Columbia will give you all the resources and advantages you need
to achieve your goals.

Essay
#3: CBS Matters, a key element of the School’s culture,
allows the people in your Cluster to learn more about you on a
personal level. What will your Clustermates be pleasantly surprised
to learn about you? (100-250
Words)

This
is so, so simple. Why do so many people love to make this
complicated? Look, they even boldfaced the most important word for
you. Pleasant. You know, like grandma’s doilies or a Kenny Chesney
single. Don’t you dare take that as carte blanche to send me
something boring, I hate boring. But don’t try to show off, don’t
try to prove what a gold-plated bad boy you are, and don’t waste
your precious time and word count writing about people and things
that aren’t you!

Pick
a hobby, or a habit, or something you love, that you can nerd out
about. Write about your favorite Game of Thrones character, or an ode
to Cherry Coke, or Havana Cigars. Write about your love for backyard
baseball, or teaching your cousins to ski on the bunny slope, or
setting up free Wi-Fi for your home town. Should your story reflect
well on you? Well, you shouldn’t come away looking like a dog! But
gloating is not the point. The point is relating.

**

So
that’s what’s up, kids! I really hope that after my master
class, you don’t have any lingering questions. But just in case you
do, feel free to call. Always happy to scream in your ear until you
get clear!

A lot of prospective legal eagles' scholastic options are going to be pretty obvious early on in the process, because their numbers are going to match up. For those of you who don’t know, the numbers I’m talking about here are LSAT score and GPA. The real-world LSAT range is from about 145 -> 180, and the real-world GPA range is from about 2.5 to about 4. So here are a few examples of LSAT/GPAs that ‘match up’, and the type of schools they should be targeting.

GPA LSAT PERCENTILE SCHOOL TYPE

3.85 176 ~90th Top 14

3.55 170 ~70th Top 50

3.1 159 ~40th Top 100-150

Sounds simple enough. But what about the strange case of the splitter? Splitters, with their high marks in one area and low marks in another, confound this process. In most cases, LSAT is going to be weighted more heavily than GPA. But that depends on your age, which school you’re coming from, and how many years you’ve been out working. Certain types of schools prefer candidates with certain types of profiles, as shown by their admissions data over the last few years. So if you’re a splitter, here are some schools you should definitely be looking at.

High LSAT / Low GPA

Virginia

Duke

NYU

Illinois

Low LSAT / High GPA

UC Berkeley

Minnesota

BYU

Pittsburgh

It’s also important to remember that your LSAT, unlike your GPA, can to some extent be improved with additional training and effort. If you’re serious about law school, this is one of the most valuable things you can do to help yourself get in. And the good news is, with applications down at almost every law school, there’s never been a better time to take your shot.

Are you ready to be the Queen Bee of GSB? Check out our tips to figure out how you can optimize your essays, recommendations and application.

Photo by Paramount, Article by Ben Feuer

Hopefully, everyone in the universe has seen Mean Girls. If you haven’t, go Netflix it. One of the most memorable characters in the coterie of teenaged back stabbers that form the core of the film is Regina George. Regina’s pretty, smart, and has everything going for her … except self-esteem. She’s insecure to the point of absurdity, and feels the need to smash anyone who looks like a threat to her.

Regina George didn’t go to Columbia GSB, but if she had, she would’ve fit right in. Of all the top business schools, Columbia is the one most afflicted with a Napoleon complex. Perhaps it’s because they struggle in the rankings compared to their somewhat loftier brethren in the Northeast. Perhaps it’s because their New York location makes them hypercompetitive. Whatever the reason, Columbia is the top B-school that is always looking for a way to belong.

You can get a great MBA education at Columbia, and it’s a fantastic feeder for all the usual post-MBA roles, including private equity, investment banking, consulting, and entrepreneurship. But in order to get in, you’re going to have to court Regina. She’s temperamental, but worth the trouble.

So what are the keys to success?

Apply early. Because of its unusual rolling admissions process and binding early decision, Columbia fills its class more quickly than its competition. This is one of the many ways they try to lock in top students. You can’t fight this, so it’s best to embrace it. If you’re considering Columbia, you give yourself the best chance by applying as early as possible -- August 1st is ideal.

Be powerful. Queen bees are drawn to self-confident people with obvious social standing and the ability to command a room. Think about how you can demonstrate transformative leadership in your recommendations, essay two, and essay three. And if you don’t know what leadership is, read our book.

Take action to understand her. The absolute worst thing you can do in a Columbia application is make it obvious to them that you’re just using them as a safety school for their competition: Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton. The best way to combat that impression, aside from applying early, is to take actions to integrate with and understand the Columbia community. Then, write at length about the research that you’ve done in your Columbia essay one and essay two, naming names and citing specific details. By showing you understand the unique appeal of the school, you make yourself more appealing.

Be pleasant. Columbia’s essay three asks what your cluster mates will be pleasantly surprised to learn about you. For whatever reason, a lot of people overthink this and try to make it into a referendum on their professional accomplishments, leadership, or general all-around awesomeness. By doing this, you reflect exactly the kind of insecurity that Columbia wants to avoid. Whatever you choose to write about, it should first and foremost be something pleasant. Not depressing, not impressive, pleasant. If it can be impressive as well as pleasant, obviously that’s great. But if you have to choose one, just make it clear that you’re an easy person to get along with, that you’re relatable, and that you don’t have an overinflated ego. There’s only room for a single Regina in a relationship.

So there you have it! These guidelines should help you prepare a top-notch application to Columbia. But if you have more questions, feel free to reach out to me and I’ll be happy to help.

There has been a lot of ink spilled lately on the subject of whether law school is in a death spiral. Almost everyone knows that applications are way down over the past few years, and newspapers, always excited to be in at a kill, are stoking the fires of resentment for all they’re worth.

The truth is always more nuanced than a simple-minded fairy tale about greedy schools and vulnerable students. The truth, however, can be a hard commodity to come by. That’s why I’m going to break down for you exactly what you need to know before deciding to apply to law school.

Ultimately, whether you are economically satisfied with your law school experience will boil down to three essential factors.

1. Did you have to take out loans in order to attend, and how large were they? If you add to your debt load by over $100,000, think of it as taking out a second (third?) mortgage, with servicing costs exceeding $1200 a month in many cases. Even amortized over time and a long career, the average Mom and Pop law shingle isn’t going to earn you back significantly more than you would have made in your previous career. That said, everyone’s financial situation is different, and if your college degree is unlikely to ever provide you the opportunity to earn a reliable living, law school may make financial sense despite the debt load. Talk to an expert, and crunch numbers, before rendering your final judgment.

2. What kind of schools are you getting offers from? Law schools can be roughly divided into four categories: top 14, top 100, ABA accredited and non-ABA. Let me be exquisitely clear — at this stage of the game, no one should be applying to a non-ABA law school. Learn technical writing, project management or internet marketing instead, if you’re humanities oriented. ABA schools outside the top 100 should be examined very carefully. Talk to at least a dozen alums, including those who finished in the bottom half of the class. Ask what their job prospects were after graduation. The top 100 is a little bit safer, but you’ll need to perform well academically (think top quartile), and you should expect to stay and work in the region where you are attending school. Top 14 schools are still a no-brainer to attend, with a large plurality of students receiving need-based aid and compelling job offers.

3. Are you ready to work hard? Although there are plenty of exceptions, the average student finds law school to be difficult, stressful and tedious. This is more true of lower-ranked law schools, because the competition is fiercer for fewer jobs. After graduation, law school students must pass the bar exam, which can be a brutal slog in and of itself. And finally the work itself is detail-oriented, repetitious and exacting. It’s completely reasonable to expect your professional degree to provide you with a solid living, but don’t be surprised when it’s an onerous one.

The world is an uncertain place, always. And there’s little doubt that recent trends in America point to more econonmic instability, rather than less. A well-chosen professional degree is an investment in oneself and a hedge against future economic uncertainty. Just make sure that you choose the right degree; with an ever-lengthening menu of options, there’s no reason to settle for easy answers.

If you have questions about whether law school is right for you, contact me and I’ll be happy to advise you.

Yes, but it’s also a highly selective program targeted at undergraduates in their junior year, designed to ‘lock them into’ Harvard Business School two to four years in advance of their attendance.

If you’re a top student, especially if you also happen to be female or an under-represented minority, you’re gonna be a very sexy target for graduate programs. Business school may seem to you like the least attractive option: dull, money-centric, excessively technical, and culturally irrelevant. Plus, it takes years of work experience and total industry commitment to even be considered!

Enter Harvard, always a thought leader, once again attempting to shift the conversation. The 2+2 program is that attempt.

This program is designed to convince and convert brilliant ‘on the fence’ students, locking them into Harvard’s prestigious business school, HBS, at the idealage — just when as they might otherwise have gone over to the medical or law schools.

Even if you already know all this, it’s important to remind yourself of it before you think about applying. By understanding the type of student Harvard wants, you can better position yourself in your application.

FACTS AND FIGURES

Here are some statistics that can help give you a sense of the overall landscape of 2+2 admissions.

The 2+2 program accepts around 110 students each year. The selectivity of the program is around 11 percent.

STEM and humanities majors are preferred … however, business majors are accepted every year. In fact, 26 percent of the most recent class were business or economics majors, compared to only 12 percent humanities majors! That said, econ is going to be much more competitive than undergraduate business.

You’ll need great stats. The GRE is an option, but GMAT is still more popular — 70% of admitted students chose GMAT.

FOR BUSINESS MAJORS

~780 GMAT target.

~3.9 GPA target.

FOR NON-BUSINESS MAJORS

~750 GMAT target.

~3.7 GPA Target.

2+2 is not just for undergraduates. Many people don’t know this, but candidates from master’s degree programs who have not held a full-time work position (not including law, medical or Ph.D) are also eligible to apply.

HOW TO GET IN

Getting into HBS 2+2 is both the easiest and the hardest thing you’ll ever do. It’s hard because very few people are successful. It’s easy, however, to understand why they’re successful.

Want to know the secret? Here goes —

Lead in what you love.

2+2 is, at its core, a blank check from Harvard to you. They’re saying to you, “No matter what, we have your back. Now go out and change the world, then come back to us and change it again.”

So you better have at least two key things if you want to get in —

1. A proven track record of creating change, in a leadership role.

2. An area of the world, not business, that you are currently focused on changing.

Once you know what that is, the rest is simple, at least in theory. The execution can be more of a challenge. You need to reorganize your essays, your resume, your extracurriculars, your potential recommenders, and probably your life, to reflect this new direction you now realize that you have.

All of these aspects of your candidacy are important, but pay special attention to your recommenders. For younger students like 2+2 applicants, character is incredibly important because there’s less of a track record to look at. So pick recommenders who know you really well, and have known you for a relatively long period of time. Think years, not months. Strong, enduring relationships are a good indicator of success in a program like 2+2, which has 2-4 year gaps between accepting students and reeling them back in.

When it comes to your essays and resume, dwell in the land of the firsts and the bests. What have you done that is different? How did it change you?

There are many potentially compelling extracurricular profiles. Here are a few we’ve seen succeed in the past.

One last tip. Don’t get too hung up on name brands. Harvard’s attitude towards them is lukewarm at best — they want to add brand recognition, not join the back of a conga line. They’ll take a state schoolerwith extraordinary leadership qualities over a middle of the pack Ivy leaguer every day of the week.

WHEN TO APPLY

The 2+2 applications have only one deadline this year: April 3rd, 2017. Applications are not reviewed on a rolling basis so your application will not be considered until the April 3rd application round.

MORE QUESTIONS?

No problem! Hit us up and we'll be happy to discuss your particular situation and answer any questions you may have, including how competitive you are.

As you may be aware, there is a new Coalition alternative to the common application. Although not all coalition schools will require essays, many will -- and for those that do, here are the prompts for those essays. With one exception, they're very similar to the common app essays. There are no word limits, as of this point.

Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.

Describe a time when you made a meaningful contribution to others in
which the greater good was your focus. Discuss the challenges and
rewards of making your contribution.

Has there been a time when you’ve had a long-cherished or accepted
belief challenged? How did you respond? How did the challenge affect
your beliefs?

What is the hardest part of being a teenager now? What’s the best
part? What advice would you give a younger sibling or friend (assuming
they would listen to you)?